Vandal Seeks a Powerful Master’s Degree

Jeremiah Seth 达斯汀 didn’t consider the full power of nuclear engineering until the end of his second bachelor’s degree.

In 达斯汀’s senior chemical engineering seminar class, Vivek Utgikar, associate dean for research and economic development in the University of Idaho’s 工程学院, gave a presentation about nuclear reactor technology.

“He talked about how we could essentially power humanity’s future with nuclear energy. We could support our species until the sun burns out, and that sounded pretty incredible,达斯汀说.

达斯汀 earned his first bachelor’s degree in psychology from U of I’s Moscow campus in 2010, and took a job working with foster children in Spokane, 华盛顿. But he found the emotional toll was too high.

“I realized it was not going to get any easier,他说. “我太情绪化了.”

达斯汀 decided to return to U of I for a bachelor’s in chemical engineering. 达斯汀’s father and a few brothers are engineers, so it was always on his periphery as a career choice. Now he’s working toward his master’s degree in nuclear engineering at U of I’s 爱达荷瀑布 center. His belief in nuclear energy ties into his background as a social worker.

“I think there is a lot of social stratification and injustice that could be mitigated by equitable access to energy, so if there’s an energy source that we know can do that, 我们应该追求它,他说.

达斯汀 isn’t new to the 爱达荷瀑布 community: His family moved to the area when he was 9, so returning to the area to finish his education was a good fit.

Part of his work at 爱达荷瀑布大学 included working on a grant writing team with researchers from U of I and University of Michigan.

“The grant was written to study accidents in a new reactor design and ways to minimize these accidents,他说. “We ended up getting the grant, that was unbelievable.”

他的导师, 鲍勃保华, helped 达斯汀 receive a fellowship with Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, 从六月开始.

“It was a pretty big deal to get that,他说. “Having this much access to all these people and resources has made it possible to get these great opportunities.”

达斯汀, 谁将在2018年秋季毕业, works closely with researchers at the Idaho National Lab on a daily basis. He received an internship to work in the pyroprocessing department last summer, where he helped with the process of dissolving metals and ceramics in molten salt.

“I was looking at rare Earth elements, which are really important for modern electronics, and how they behave in molten salt,他说. “One of the biggest reasons I came to 爱达荷瀑布 was to do pyroprocessing.”

达斯汀 said having industry professionals around him encourages him to work harder.

“I can’t imagine having a graduate experience where you don’t get access to those people,他说. “I’d be missing out on so much if I didn’t get to interact with INL researchers. It’s one thing to have professors tell you something, but to have someone who actually does the work say it, 它更严重.”

达斯汀 is also involved in the Vandal Ideas Project, an internal grant program at U of I that’s focused on increasing the number of students who go to college in Idaho. As a member of the student-designed project, “Increasing the Go-On Rate in Southeast Idaho Through the Nexus of Food, 能源和水,” 达斯汀 is working to recruit interested high school students and establish a mentorship program in Eastern Idaho high schools for senior projects.

Article by Tess Fox, University Communications & 市场营销.

Published in the June 2018 issue of 爱达荷瀑布杂志.